In the period following the Second Vatican Council, Orthodox theologians and former observers at the Council undertook an assessment the paradigm shift in the Roman Catholic attitude towards ecumenism. American Orthodoxy, albeit divided into several jurisdictions, constituted a significant observatory. Two Orthodox churches in America, the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia and the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America, had sent observers since the first session of the Council. The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation was inaugurated in 1965, well in advance of the official Orthodox-Catholic dialogue (1979). In 1969 the Consultation published its first agreed statement on the Holy Eucharist. In 1970, the Russian Orthodox Church granted autocephaly to its American branch, thereby igniting a major controversy among Orthodox Churches. The present paper, which forms part of doctoral research on American autocephaly (Drest) and of a research project on Post-Council at Fscire, explores how inner Orthodox relations impacted on Catholic-Orthodox dialogue and vice-versa, arguing that the two are strictly linked.